The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is looking into the possibility of county law enforcement wearing body cameras while on duty.

The five-member board voted unanimously Dec. 16 to have county staff look into the feasibility and practicality of such a move, which comes as the nation has a conversation about the relationship between police and the public, particularly regarding a perceived use of excessive force.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian brought the matter before the board.

“As much as these issues have been highlighted the past year, these are issues of trust and challenging interactions that have been with us for decades now,” Simitian said during the Dec. 16 meeting.

Body cameras are gaining wider acceptance with law enforcement agencies around the country. A 16-month study conducted in Rialto, CA, showed a more than 50 percent reduction in use of force by police officers wearing cameras, and a nearly 90 percent drop in citizen complaints of police misconduct, according to Simitian’s office.

Simitian stressed how the cameras could help put a stop to residents filing false claims of harassment against deputies.

“What you discover is that people simply don’t make bogus claims when they know that those bogus claims can be rebutted by video evidence,” he said. “It’s a tremendous protection for the officer in the field, and I would also indicate it’s a protection for our county in terms of the cost associated with litigation and the potential settlement in a case where it all comes down to what did or didn’t happen.”

The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office serves the communities of Cupertino, Los Altos Hills, Saratoga and the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. The county would not be the first in the area to use the cameras. Police in Gilroy, Los Gatos and Campbell already wear cameras, and Mountain View plans to equip its police force with cameras in 2015, according to Simitian’s office.

The sheriff’s office has made only limited use of body cameras and vehicle-mounted cameras. In 2013, the Police Chiefs’ Association of Santa Clara County, working with Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, crafted a protocol meant to guide the use of body cameras countywide.

“This is not a cure-all. The world will not be a perfect place if we take this action, but it really is a relatively simple dramatic step we can take using available technology that’s reasonably priced,” Simitian said.

Simitian and fellow supervisors called for a slow and methodical approach in considering the body camera issue.

“I think this is one of those times where it’s more important to do it right than to do it quick,” he said.

The supervisors spent about 30 minutes discussing the issue. No formal action was taken; instead, the supervisors and county staff discussed pulling various stakeholders and interested parties into the conversation. In addition, there was discussion about possible issues with body cameras, such as when to turn them on or off and how to store data.

Supervisors also wondered if cameras would in some way prevent victims of crimes such as domestic violence from calling the police during an incident.

Representatives from the local NAACP and the activist group Silicon Valley De-Bug spoke during the meeting in support of the supervisors’ discussion.

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